How Women In Tech Gain Visibility To Get Ahead

There have been many discussions about why there aren’t more women in tech. The lack of qualified women in the pipeline has been the traditional answer for the lack of diversity, yet this is not the entire answer. It simply isn’t that simple.

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Tech companies, especially in Silicon Valley, have been exposed for sexual harassment which has caused many women who enter the industry to leave. Other cultural issues influence the exodus of talented women, and studies show that gender bias in hiring and promotions is prevalent in many tech companies. It’s not a level playing field.

With the cards stacked against them, many women in tech struggle to thrive and survive. A recent Harvard Business Review article suggests, however, that women can be successful in their industry by raising their profile. The authors emphasize the importance of gaining visibility and credibility, and outline specific areas where women should focus their efforts: improving their technical and leadership skills and getting access to stretch assignments and senior leaders in formal networks.

I spoke with Jodie Nel, an event manager for Cyber Security Chicago, to better understand how women in tech and cyber security can raise their profile in this manner.

Marcus: Jodie, what can women do to improve their technical and leadership skills?

Nel: I think pursuing technical certifications is really important. You want to make sure from the outset that you have the right experience. Get these qualifications and then you can make it known that you're an expert in this area. Put the information in your email signature, your LinkedIn profile or your business card. So getting the technical certification is the first step. But then also talking about it as much as you can and making people aware of your area of expertise. Posting free knowledge sharing events is really helpful to become the go-to source within your organization and your industry. It comes in the form of meet-ups, podcasts, lunch-and-learns, etc. And then the final point on technical and leadership skills would be serving as a resource for committees and boards and councils. Again put yourself forward and say, "Look this is my technical area of expertise." Always look for boards and councils looking for this help.

Marcus: A lot of the panel discussions at different events you’re referring to and many of the boards are not necessarily open to women. Do you have any suggestions for how to be included? How to get noticed there?

Nel: This is a big problem. I think women working in senior roles should go to their PR team and their marketing teams and say, "I want to do this. I'm available for this. And this is what I can bring." Put yourself forward a bit more. And start sticking your neck out a bit as well.

Marcus:The next suggestion from the Harvard article for gaining visibility is to get access to stretch assignments. What’s your best advice on how to do this?

Nel: Putting your hand up goes a long way. And once you’ve done one stretch assignment, it becomes a lot easier. Be as communicative as possible with some of the senior people around you and let them know you want to be involved in this kind of thing. I think it’s also ok to ask why you’re not given the same opportunities as men. Find out who needs support for projects and raise your hand to help. Anyone that’s super busy will always love the offer of help. Then set goals of at least one stretch assignment per month or quarter and make yourself accountable by sharing it saying, ‘I’ve put aside this amount of time every quarter or every month to do these stretch assignments’ so they know you are available.

Marcus: And then letting people know that you’ve done these assignments, correct?

Nel: Yes, it’s so easy these days to share everything you do. For example, cybersecurity is very sexy right now so there’s no point of just writing something and sharing it internally. Use social media and blogs especially to share these stretch assignments. If you’re happy with it, why wouldn’t you want to share it with everyone’s feed?

Marcus:What advice do you have to get access to senior leaders in formal networks? This is not easy to do.

Nel: Attending networking and industry events is a great way to meet senior people. You can find out who’s going to be at an external event you’re going to. Research that and find out who you should be engaging with.

Marcus:What about in the workplace?

Nel: Schedule meetings internally and externally. A friend of mine always says, "Never eat lunch alone." And she's always trying to use her lunch breaks to network. That’s a nice informal setting, where you can meet the influencers in your organization. You can also connect online, LinkedIn and Twitter. One good approach is to reach out for advice. People find it really flattering to be asked to be a mentor or to give advice. I can't imagine someone would turn that down, especially internally or within the industry.

Marcus:Recent data shows that only 11% of cybersecurity jobs are held by women. What are your thoughts about how this can change?

Nel: Cybersecurity is made up of two parts in my mind. One is the senior level, very senior, formal businessmen who are 90 percent men. And then there are the hackers who are normally younger and much more informal and they work alone. And I think both of those are vastly dominated by men. And it’s hard for women to penetrate into those areas but for very different reasons. There were no women in technology in a more broad sense what 5, 10 years ago and that’s now slowly changing. I think cybersecurity will change as well. But at the moment because there is such a lack of visibility of the women working in the space, it's not encouraging for women.

Marcus: How can the women in the industry become more visible?

Nel: A lot of cybersecurity work is very secretive. I know some women that do social engineering, like white hat hacking, but they can't really be very well known because it would stop them from doing their job. They have to stay under the radar. And that's an issue when you want people to come forward and be approached by the media and speak at events and be considered thought leaders.

Marcus:So what you're seeing is the nature of the cybersecurity work itself sometimes requires you be invisible, but not within the company, right?

Nel: No, not within the company. That's quite right.

Marcus: What can companies do to help women get more visibility?

Nel: Try to engage more women to speak and to participate but also to attend events. One organization turned their logo pink to encourage more women to attend their event. I also saw an email that went out to male delegates for an event and it said, "Invite a female colleague." I just think it's something we all companies need to strive for, to do a better job of creating more visibility for women.

I'm an executive coach, author, and international speaker with a passion for helping professional women gain the visibility and credibility they need to have a fulfilling career. I work with high achieving women in corporate settings who want to move up and assume leadershi...